I'll Be Seeing You (1944)

Director:

William Dieterle
(more)

Writers:

Charles Martin (play) and
Marion Parsonnet

Release Date:

5 January 1945 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Family | Romance

Tagline:

Both living a secret...each afraid to tell!

Plot:

A soldier suffering from battle fatigue meets a young woman on Christmas furlough from prison and their mutual loneliness blossoms into romance.

Plot Keywords:

Christmas | Prison | Leave | Sergeant | Furlough

Cast

Ginger Rogers	...	Mary Marshall
Joseph Cotten	...	Zachary Morgan
Shirley Temple	...	Barbara Marshall
Spring Byington	...	Mrs. Marshall
Tom Tully	...	Mr. Marshall
John Derek	...	Lt. Bruce (as Dare Harris)
Chill Wills	...	Swanson
Kenny Bowers	...	Sailor on Train
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Fred Aldrich	...	Sidewalk Cowboy (uncredited)
Walter Baldwin	...	Train Vendor (replaced by Olin Howland) (uncredited)
Brandon Beach	...	Minor Role (uncredited)
Margaret Bert	...	Mother of Boys (uncredited)
Jack Carr	...	Counterman at Train Station (uncredited)
Helen Dickson	...	New Year's Eve Partygoer (uncredited)
Robert Dudley	...	Pine Hills YMCA Hotel Attendant (uncredited)
Gary Gray	...	Franklin - Boy with Toy Machine Gun (uncredited)
Eddie Hall	...	Charlie Hartman (uncredited)
Joe Haworth	...	Sailor in Coffee Shop (uncredited)
Louanne Hogan	...	Singer at Party (singing title song) (voice) (uncredited)
Olin Howland	...	Train Vendor (uncredited)
John James	...	Paratrooper on Train (uncredited)
Earl Johnson	...	Dog Owner (uncredited)
Mickey Laughlin	...	Boy Outside Theatre (uncredited)
Thomas Martin	...	New Year's Eve Partygoer (uncredited)
Bob Meredith	...	Soldier-Father on Train (uncredited)
Edmund Mortimer	...	Floorwalker in Women's Shop (uncredited)
Dorothy Stone	...	Saleslady (uncredited)
Hal Taggart	...	New Yea'rs Eve Partygoer (uncredited)
Hank Tobias	...	Boy Outside Theatre (uncredited)

Directed by
William Dieterle
George Cukor		(uncredited)

Writing credits
Charles Martin		(play)
Marion Parsonnet

Produced by
Dore Schary	....	producer
David O. Selznick	....	executive producer (uncredited)

Original Music by
Daniele Amfitheatrof

Cinematography by
Tony Gaudio		(photographed by)

Film Editing by
William H. Ziegler
Holbrook N. Todd		(uncredited)

Set Decoration by
Mark-Lee Kirk		(settings) (as Mark Lee Kirk)

Makeup Department
William Riddle	....	makeup artist (uncredited)

Production Management
Fred Ahern	....	unit manager (uncredited)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Lowell J. Farrell	....	assistant director

Art Department
Emile Kuri	....	interior decorator
Earl Wooden	....	interior decorator (as Earl B. Wooden)

Sound Department
Richard DeWeese	....	recorder
Arthur Johns	....	re-recording and effects mixer (uncredited)

Special Effects by
Jack Cosgrove	....	special effects (uncredited)

Visual Effects by
Jack Cosgrove	....	special photographic effects (uncredited)
Rex Wimpy	....	transparency projection shots (uncredited)

Stunts
Cliff Lyons	....	stunt double: Joseph Cotten (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Kenneth Meade	....	second camera (uncredited)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Edith Head	....	costumes: Miss Rogers

Editorial Department
Hal C. Kern	....	supervising film editor

Music Department
Earl B. Mounce	....	music mixer (uncredited)
Paul Neal	....	music mixer (uncredited)
Leonid Raab	....	orchestrator (uncredited)
Elmer Raguse	....	music mixer (uncredited)

Other crew
Ann Harris	....	research director (uncredited)
Lou Lusty	....	production assistant (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Dore Schary Productions (for)
• Vanguard Films (for)
• Selznick International Pictures

Distributors

• United Artists (1944) (USA) (theatrical)
• Selznick Releasing Organization (1956) (USA) (theatrical) (re-release)
• MGM Home Entertainment (2004) (USA) (DVD)
• ABC Distribution Co. (2004) (USA) (DVD)

Also Known As:

Runtime:

85 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

Australia:PG | Finland:S | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

Big Bear Lake, Big Bear Valley, San Bernardino National Forest, California, USA

Company:

Dore Schary Productions

Trivia:

The quote from Lincoln under his photograph in the YMCA room is from his Cooper Union Address: "Let us have faith that right makes might, and in that faith, let us, to the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it" (February 27, 1860).

Goofs:

Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): Mary tells the taxi driver the address is 617 North Elm Street, but on the phone she tells Zach the address is 617 Elm Street.

Quotes:

Mary Marshall:[after Barbara had partitioned all their stuff] Barbara, what I'm in prison for isn't catching.
Barbara Marshall:I'm sorry, Mary, I... I keep hurting you, and... I really don't want to.
Mary Marshall:I guess it is uncomfortable for you to meet somebody who's been in prison. Maybe when you get to know me, you'll feel differently.
Barbara Marshall:I want to know you, Mary. Really, I do.
Mary Marshall:How much do you know about me?
Barbara Marshall:Not much. Mother and Dad still treat me like a child. Everything's a big secret.
Mary Marshall:I don't think it would hurt for you to know. As a matter of fact, I think it might help. When I was your age, my mother died.
Barbara Marshall:Oh, I remember her. Way back when I was young. She used to make clothes for my favorite doll.
Mary Marshall:Yes, she was wonderful with her hands. And some time after that, my father went north on business. And then, when he died, I was on my own. I got a very good job as a secretary, and my job brought me in contact with a lot of very nice men, one of whom, might have turned out, I thought, to be the one who would give me all the things that you dream about when you're twenty and lonely. One day, when I was called into my boss's office, he invited me to a party in his apartment. He was single, and I started dreaming. Bosses do marry their secretaries. I took what money I'd saved and I bought an evening dress. I thought it was very fancy. I wanted to look good in front of his high class friends. He had sent me an orchid, a white orchid, the first one I'd ever had. I was wearing it. When the door opened, I walked into the biggest apartment I'd ever seen. I thought it was rich and elegant. I'd wanted to impress him, so I got there a little late. I'd wanted to make an entrance all by myself, but nobody else was there. I should have had sense enough then to get out, but I didn't. He'd been drinking a long time before I got there, I guess, and he kept right on. He told me that he hadn't invited anyone else, and that the white orchid, and all that was just his way of getting me up there. I - I tried to talk my way out, and then when that didn't work, I made a break for it. I didn't scream. I was too frightened, I guess. I tried to get away from him, but I couldn't. He seemed to be everywhere. Oh, it was all mixed up like some terrible kind of a dream. Once, I almost got away, when he fell over a chair. But he caught me again, and dragged me back. Then I pushed him as hard as I could, and he fell back through the window. His apartment was on the fourteenth floor.
Barbara Marshall:Oh, Mary... how awful.
[...]

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire: Million Dollar Movie Week 4 (#8.119)" (2010)

Soundtrack:

I'll Be Seeing You

I'll Be Seeing You is worth looking for

This is a kind of forgotten Christmas or Christmas-themed movie. I've only seen this a few times on TV over the years but this is a good movie. Ginger Rogers doesn't sing or dance here but she puts in an excellent dramatic performance as a woman on furlough for the holidays from prison. Joseph Cotton is the soldier on leave from the front lines of World War II. Both have psychological problems and no significant other to help them through. David O. Selznick is executive producer here but this film doesn't have the look of an Selznick film with giant sets and big interior shots and sweeping landscapes. Selznick doesn't put his name on it and Dore Schary is Producer but Selznick had the final say in how this was done. William Dieterle directs. He had renowned success with such films as The Hunchback of Notre Dame and The Devil & Daniel Webster and would go on to direct Portrait of Hennie, Love Letters, Dark City and September Affair among others. Selznick is reported to have not liked this script and tried changes that Dieterle basically ignored but Selnick did call in director George Cukor to re shoot a scene critical to the plot that involved Shirley Temple. Joan Fontaine was originally offered the Rogers role and this may have been a very different picture with Fontaine starring opposite Cotton but I think Rogers was better for this role and brought more strength and hardness to the character that Fontaine would have been too delicate and vulnerable in. Shirley Temple in her transition from child star into adult roles delivers a fine performance from the supporting cast which also includes Chill Wills and a young John Derek. This film was adapted from the Charles Martin radio play Double Furlough by screenwriter Martin Parsonette. I would give this an 8.0 out of a possible 10 and recommend it.